Safety appliance for punch-presses.



A. F. WINTERS & A. H. PORTER.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR PUNCH PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. I917. 1.9m.-

Pafented June 25, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEEF l.

A. F. WINTERS & A H. PORTER. SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR PUNCH PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2.1917- Patented June 20, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

2.9 Illll-llw'" H in r ALEXANDER F. WINTERS'AND ALVIN PORTER, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS T0 WINTERS & .SIRY KER, 0F GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, A FIRM GONSIS'IING 0F ALEXANDER F. WINTERS 'AND ALBERT STRYKER.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR PUNCH-PRESSES.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALEXANDER F. VVIN'rnRs and ALVIN H. PORTER, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Grand Rapids, in the count-y of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Punch-Presses; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

especially applicable to punch presses and the like, the object and purpose thereof being to render it practically impossible for workman to place his hands or fingers un-.

1n a very simple and economical manner.

and so that the same can be attached to a punch press without the necessity of machine work of any kind or character the guard as a whole being attachedin a very short time. All of these objects and pur poses as well as many others not particularly stated will appear as understanding is had of the construction shown in the accom panying drawings in which; v

Figure l is a perspective view ofa punch press equipped with our invention.

- Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the press a short distance above the bed thereof and showing the construction comprising the guard in plan view; and

Fig. 3 1s a slmilar view 1n perspectlve.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings. i 1

The punch press may be of ordinary con struction including spaced housing castings 1, in front of whichis located a horlzontal table or bed 2' on which the die is secured. The rain 3 is slidably mounted above the Specificationof Letters Patent.

table between the housing castings and is operated by rotation of a shaft 4 on which a wheel 5 is loosely mounted and which may be connected to the shaft by a pull on the chain 6 .which operates theclutch for connecting the same. The chain at its lower end has connection with the foot lever 7 piv- Patented June 25, 191%. Application filed July 2, 1917. Serial No. 178,210.

otally mounted at 8 on one of the housing castings. This structure is old and well known and is common to punch presses and as it in itself forms no part of the present invention is not described with any measure r of detail. This invention relates to a safety guard In the construction of the safety guard two brackets 9 and 10 are provided which are connected together by an interposed rod 11 oppositively threaded at its ends and threading into the brackets. Lock nuts 12 are used to hold the brackets in any position to which they may be adjusted. The brackets are adapted to be located between the housing castings 1 a short distance above the bed, and by operating the rod 11 they may be forced against the inner sides of the housing castlngs and, in thls manner, se

curely attached in place.

A shaft 13 extends through the free ends of the brackets and is rotatively mounted therein, one end carrying collar 14 between which and the end of the bracket 9 a tor-1 sion spring 15 is secured. At the opposite end of the shaft a second collar 16 is fixed,

from which a hook 17 "projects adapted to connect with. the upper link of a chain 18,] which extends downwardly and carries screw threaded pin or: bolt 19 on its lower end threading through and in this manner ad ustably connected to a member 20 which may be attached, by means of the set screw shown in Fig. 1, to the foot lever 7. I j

A pair of blocks 21 are adjustably mount,- ed on the shaft 13 between brackets 9 and 10. By operation of the nuts 22 the same may be fixed at any desired position on the shaft 13 and may be adjustable lengthwise of the shaft as well as at difierent angles.

screws 24 thread through the parts of the.

blocks thereby clamping said parts against.

rods 25 which pass through the blocks as shown and which are capable of adjustment 1 forward end: of the foot lever 7, shaft 18,

rotate, shaft 13 and the parts attached there to are elevated-,gua-rd 29 occupying an upper position such that the workman may readily insert piecesof material: to be operated upon bythe punchand die. On depression of the through the connecting, chain 18, is rotated in; the opposite direction and the guard is brought down; on the bed, 2' to, its lowermost position before connection of the wheel. 5

' ,-.and sha f t 4: takesplacegit being understood that it is at the limit of downward movement of the foot: lever 7 that operation of theram occurs.- On release ofthe foot lever the, guardautomatically rises and on depression, it is lowered, and if, by mistake,

the operator should; keep his foot on the footlever holding 1t in depressed position so that-a second operation ofthe ram should take place,it would-not be dangerous to the operator on account of the fact that the guard is in place preventing any entrance I of the; hands ofthe operator to a point helow, the; punch.

The construction outlined is relatively vsimpleand in its attachment to a punch press isparticularly simple and useful, It

.is-notnecessary to alter in any respect the punch, press structure nor is it necessary to bone any. holesor do any machme Work of any kind in order to attach the same to the punch ,press. In operation the device is especially effective. Many changes in minor deta-ilamay be resorted to without departing from our invention and, accordingly, we do not Wish to be limited other than is necessitatedbytheterms of the claims defining e n ntion.

We claim1:-

LA guard appliance for punch presses or the? like adapted for application thereto above the bed and between the vertical housing castings thereof, including spaced apart. brackets adapted to" extend in front ofr-said housingcastings, means toqadjust said: brackets with respect to each other to thereby forcethem against the inner sides of the housing castings, a shaft rotatably mounted on thefront ends of the brackets,

a. guard member fixed to and located in front of 'the'shaft, means. attached to the shaft normally elevating the guard, and

means adapted to'conncct said shaft and the foot lever of the press to lower the guard on depression of said foot lever.

2. A guard appliance for punch presses or the like adapted for application thereto above the bed and between the vertical housing castings thereof, including spaced apart brackets adapted to locate at their rear ends between said housing castings and extend in front thereof, means to adjust said brackets toward or away from each other to thereby force them against the inner sides of said housing castings, a shaft rotatably mounted onthe front ends of the brackets, rods connected to and extending. in front of the shaft, means for adjusting. the rods toward or away from eachother, a guard member attached to and located between the front ends of the rods, different lengths of guard members beingv used with diflerent positions ofthe rods on the shaft thereby adapting one. size of appliance for different sizes of presses, means attached to the shaft normally turning the same to elevate the guard member, and means attached to the shaft and adapted to be connected to the foot lever of the punch press to lower the guard memberon depression of said foot lever.

3. A guard appliance for punch presses and the like, comprising. a pair of spaced brackets, a rod connecting the same and ad justable' to vary the distance between the brackets whereby said brackets may be adjusted: to bear against spaced apart vertical housing castings of a punch press, a shaft rotatably carried by the brackets, means tending to rotate said shaft in one direction, a guard member positioned a distance in front of the shaft, means connecting the same thereto, and means for rotating the shaft in the opposite direction to change the normalposition of said guard member, substantially as described.

4. A- guard appliance for punch presses and the like, comprising two spaced' apart brackets, means for adjusting the same toward or away from each other, adapting the same for attachment between the spaced apart vertical housing castings of a punch press, a shaft rotatably carried by saidbrackets, a torsion spring interposed between the shaft and one of the brackets tending to rotate the shaft in one direction, two blocks connected to the shaft, a rod connected to each block and extending in front thereof, a block secured at the front end of each rod, a vertical rod on each block,-a guard member interposed between and connected to said vertical rods, a hook projecting forward from one end of the shaft, and a flexible connection attached to the hook adapted to be secured to the foot lever of the punch press, substantially as described.

5. A construction as claimed in claim 4 in which said blocks on the shaft are adjustable thereon toward .or away from each other, and said rods mounted on the blocks are adjustable thereon in the direction of their length, substantially as described.

6. In combination, a punch press including spaced apart vertical housing castings, a horizontal bed projecting forward therefrom, a ram mounted for vertical movements above the bed, driving means for the ram normally disconnected therefrom,means including a foot lever for connecting the driving means to the ram to operate the same, two brackets interposed between the housing castings, means adjustably connecting the same and operable to force thebrackets against the inner sides of the housing castings, a shaft rotatably carried by the brackets in front of said castings and above the bed, rods connected to and extending forward from the shaft, a guard carried by and between the forward ends of the rods and extending a distance above said rods, yielding means tending to rotate the shaft in one direction and elevate the guard above the bed, and means interposed between the shaft and foot lever to rotate the shaft in the opposite direction and lower the guard on depression of said foot lever, substantially as described.

7. A guard appliance for punch presses or the like adapted for application thereto above the bed and between the vertical housing castings thereof including supporting ALEXANDER F. WINTERS. ALVIN H. PORTER.

Copies or this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenta,

Waahinmon, JD. G. 

